Media Asset Pivot Navigation

ABSTRACT

Media asset pivot navigation is described. In embodiments, collections of media assets can be determined, where each of the collections correspond to a navigation axis that is traversable in a user interface to locate media assets for selection. Visual representations are determined that each represent a collection of media assets, and the visual representations are displayable in the user interface. The visual representations that represent the collections of media assets can be non-textual visual representations that are most likely discernible to a user as representing the collections of the media assets. A navigation input relative to a collection of media assets can be received, and responsive to receiving the navigation input, a visual representation that represents the collection of media assets is changed based on user interactions with the media assets in the collection of media assets.

RELATED APPLICATION

This application is a continuation of and claims priority to U.S.application Ser. No. 12/485,291 filed Jun. 16, 2009 entitled “MediaAsset Pivot Navigation” to Sloo et al., the disclosure of which isincorporated by reference herein in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Portable devices are increasingly more common and mobile, such as laptopcomputers, tablet personal computers (PCs), mobile PCs, as well as othermobile data, messaging, and/or communication devices. While portabledevices have become more mobile and convenient, the size of deviceintegrated displays has decreased to accommodate the mobility andconvenience of the devices. Current visual browsers for videos, photos,and game content rely on the ability of a user to recognize particularmedia assets in order to select or make decisions based on those mediaassets. This limits the display size of the media assets because a userneeds to see enough of an image to discern a media asset for selection.As the display screens become smaller, pictorial details can be lost.

Additionally, the current media interfaces that are utilized todiscover, sort, locate, and sample media content are uniformly built ontop-down information hierarchies that are known to break down for verylarge, disparate sets of media content. For example, the data set of Webpages has transitioned discovery from content category searching togeneric Web searches that use heuristics to find arbitrary content or torefine subsets of discovered content and data. Typically, a Web searchis initiated with text input which is not well-suited to initiatecontent discovery for non-text content and in keyboard-free contexts,such as in the navigation space for television and entertainmentsystems.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce simplified concepts of media assetpivot navigation. The simplified concepts are further described below inthe Detailed Description. This summary is not intended to identifyessential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended foruse in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Media asset pivot navigation is described. In various embodiments,collections of media assets are determined from relational metadata thatcorresponds to the media assets in a respective collection. Eachcollection of media assets are represented as a navigation axis alongwhich the media assets in a respective collection can be located, andthe media assets can be associated with multiple collections of mediaassets based on the relational metadata. A media asset navigationinterface is generated for display from which the collections of mediaassets can be navigated to locate the media assets for selection. Themedia asset navigation interface includes a display of a collection ofmedia assets represented as a navigation axis. A navigation input can bereceived to pivot from the navigation axis to an alternate navigationaxis and initiate a display of an additional collection of media assetsthat are represented as the alternate navigation axis.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of media asset pivot navigation are described with referenceto the following drawings. The same numbers are used throughout thedrawings to reference like features and components:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system in which embodiments of media assetpivot navigation can be implemented.

FIG. 2 illustrates navigation axes for collections of media assets inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 3 illustrates a media asset navigation interface in accordance withone or more embodiments.

FIG. 4 illustrates example method(s) for media asset pivot navigation inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 illustrates various components of an example device that canimplement embodiments of media asset pivot navigation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of media asset pivot navigation provide that a user cannavigate the relationships of media assets in an abstract informationspace, rather than simply traversing lists of media assets whensearching for viewing choices, song selections, photo viewing, and thelike. A collection of media assets can be represented as a navigationaxis along which the media assets in a respective collection can belocated. Navigation axes that correlate to various collections of mediaassets are an organizational structure for a media asset navigationinterface via which a user can navigate and locate media assets withouta typed or text input. A user can pivot on the navigation axes thatrepresent the collections of media assets to search and locate mediaassets. The navigation axes provide that a user can navigate from onemedia asset to a next according to the ordered collections, and theorder in which media assets are encountered or discovered depends on thecurrent navigation pivot.

Additionally, navigation input is not tied to any one particular deviceor input devices for navigation and axis pivot inputs. Input devicesthat facilitate user-selectable inputs and selections to navigate amedia asset navigation interface can include a two-input controller, atwo-dimensional or three-dimensional controller, a pointing device, atouch controller, and/or a gestural controller that can all be utilizedfor various embodiments of media asset pivot navigation.

While features and concepts of the described systems and methods formedia asset pivot navigation can be implemented in any number ofdifferent environments, systems, and/or various configurations,embodiments of media asset pivot navigation are described in the contextof the following example systems and environments.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 100 in which various embodiments ofmedia asset pivot navigation can be implemented. System 100 includes acontent distributor 102 implemented for media content distribution andcommunication with various client devices 104 via communication networks106. An example device 108 is representative of various client devices104 that receive media assets 110 when distributed from contentdistributor 102. In a media content distribution system, the contentdistributor 102 can be implemented as one or more server devices thatinclude a distribution system 112 to facilitate distribution of themedia assets 110, metadata, and other associated data to multipleviewers, users, customers, subscribers, viewing systems, consumerdevices, and the various client devices 104.

Media content (e.g., to include recorded media content) includes mediaassets and any type of audio, video, and/or image data received from anymedia content and/or data source. In various implementations, mediaassets include both global media assets 110 that are maintained at thecontent distributor 102 and available to any of the various clientdevices 104, and include local media assets 114 that are maintainedlocal to a device, such as the local media assets 114 stored on device108. As described herein, a media asset can include recorded videocontent, video-on-demand content, television content, televisionprograms (or live programming), advertisements, commercials, musicfiles, movies, video clips, digital photographs, documents and othertypes of media assets. Other media content can include interactivegames, network-based applications, and any other content, assets, ordata (e.g., to include user interface data, advertising content, closedcaptions data, content metadata, search results and/or recommendations,etc.).

The communication networks 106 include any type of a data network, voicenetwork, broadcast network, an IP-based network, and/or a wirelessnetwork 116 that facilitates communication of data and media content inany format. The communication networks 106 can be implemented using anytype of network topology and/or communication protocol, and may berepresented or otherwise implemented as a combination of two or morenetworks. In addition, any one or more of the arrowed communicationlinks facilitate two-way data communication.

The various client devices 104 in system 100 can be implemented as anyone or combination of a wired and/or wireless device, as any form oftelevision client device 118 (e.g., television set-top box, digitalvideo recorder (DVR), etc.), gaming device 120, computer device 122,portable computer 124, consumer device, media device, communicationand/or messaging device, video processing and/or rendering device,appliance device, electronic device, and/or as any other type of devicethat is implemented to receive media content in any form of audio,video, and/or image data. A client device 104 may also be implemented asany type of mobile phone 126 (e.g., cellular, VoIP, WiFi, etc.), aportable media device 128 (e.g., a personal media player, portable mediaplayer, handheld media player, etc.), or any other wired and/or wirelessdevice.

The various client devices 104 shown in system 100 can be implemented ascomponents in client systems that include a respective display device130, or as a client device that includes an integrated display 132. Adisplay device 130 can be implemented as any type of a television, highdefinition television (HDTV), LCD, or similar display system. Thevarious client devices 104 can also be associated with one or more inputdevices, such as a remote control device for user-selectable inputs andselections to the television client device 118, a gaming controller foruser-selectable inputs to the gaming device 120, a keyboard and mouseinput devices for user-selectable inputs to the computer device 122 andto portable computer 124, an alphanumeric keypad for user-selectableinputs to the mobile phone 126, and various user-selectable inputs tothe portable media device 128. Other input devices for user-selectableinputs and selections to the various devices can include a two-inputcontroller, a two-dimensional or three-dimensional controller, apointing device, a touch controller, and/or a gestural controller thatcan be utilized for the various embodiments of media asset pivotnavigation as described herein.

Any of the devices described herein can be implemented with any numberand combination of differing components as described with reference tothe example device shown in FIG. 5, such as one or more processors,communication components, data inputs, memory components, processing andcontrol circuits, and/or a media content rendering system. The exampledevice 108 is representative of the various client devices 104 thatimplement various embodiments of media asset pivot navigation.

In this example, device 108 includes media content inputs 134 to receivemedia assets 110 from content distributor 102. The media content inputs134 can include any type of communication interfaces and/or data inputs,such as Internet Protocol (IP) inputs over which streams of mediacontent (e.g., IPTV content) are received via an IP-based network. AnIPTV receiver can include a media content input 134 to receivetelevision content as an IPTV multicast via an Ethernet input port fromcontent distributor 102. In addition, the media content inputs 134include any type of broadcast and/or over-the-air inputs via which mediacontent is received over the air.

Device 108 can also include one or more tuners to tune televisionchannels and/or data streams for display and viewing, such as whendevice 108 is implemented as a television client device. In variousimplementations, a tuner can be implemented as a hardware tuner, oralternatively, as a software tuner that is implemented to tune to atelevision channel and/or data stream. Device 108 includes a renderingsystem 136 to receive and/or render media content in any form of audio,video, and/or image data received from any media content and/or datasource. In various embodiments, the rendering system 136 is implementedto render a media asset navigation interface 138 for display, such asshown on the display device 130 that is associated with the televisionclient device 118.

In this example system 100, device 108 includes a media asset navigationapplication 140 that can be implemented as computer-executableinstructions and executed by processors to implement embodiments and/orfeatures of media asset pivot navigation. In embodiments, any of thevarious devices 104 can include the media asset navigation application140 to independently implement media asset pivot navigation.Alternatively or in addition, the content distributor 102 includes amedia asset navigation service 142 that implements embodiments and/orfeatures of media asset pivot navigation, either independently, or inconjunction with a media asset navigation application at a client device104.

In various embodiments, the media asset navigation application 140 atdevice 108 and/or the media asset navigation service 142 at contentdistributor 102 is implemented to determine collections of media assets144 and initiate a display of a media asset navigation interface fromwhich the collections of media assets can be navigated to locate themedia assets for selection. A collection of media assets can bedetermined based on any relatable factor, such as relational metadata146, a genre that is common to the media assets, similarity of contentor audience, content length, the content provider or creator,participating actors or entities, a content channel, a tone, a mood, atime within a media asset, and/or any other relevant media assetassociations.

The relational metadata 146 can include any type of identifyingcriteria, descriptive information, and/or attributes associated with theglobal media assets 110 and the local media assets 114 that describesand/or categorizes the media assets. For example, metadata can include amedia asset identifier, title, subject description, a date ofproduction, artistic information, music compilations, and any otherpossible descriptive information about a particular media asset.Further, metadata can characterize a genre that describes a media asset,such as video content, as being an advertisement, a movie, a comedyshow, a sporting event, a news program, a sitcom, a talk show, anaction/adventure program, or as any number of other categorydescriptions.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example of media asset navigation axes 200 invarious embodiments of media asset pivot navigation. A collection ofmedia assets can be represented as a navigation axis along which themedia assets in a respective collection can be located, and a mediaasset can be associated with one or more of the collections of mediaassets based on the relational metadata and the navigation axes. In thisexample, various collections of media assets 202 are illustrated arounda current selection 204, such as a movie (e.g., a media asset) that auser is watching. The various collections of media assets in thisexample include genre, creator, title, actor, popularity, similarity,date, and archetype. Various collections of media assets can also beassociated by any other relevant media asset associations.

A user can navigate the relationships of the media assets in an abstractinformation space, rather than simply traversing lists of media assetswhen searching for viewing choices, song selections, photo viewing, andthe like. Each media asset in a navigation axis is likely related toother media assets in another navigation axis, which builds out acontinuum for searching media assets. For example, a user can navigatefrom the current selection 204 to find movies (e.g., other media assets)that are popular based on a collection of popular media assets 206 alonga navigation axis 208. The user may navigate the popular movies andpivot on a media asset 210 that is also associated with a collection ofmedia assets 212 that include a particular actor. The collection ofmedia assets 212 is represented by a navigation axis 214.

The example media asset navigation axes 200 are the organizationalstructure for a media asset navigation interface via which a user cannavigate and locate media assets without a typed or text input. Inaddition, the user can locate the various media assets, such as livetelevision programs, recorded video, movies, personal media such asphotos and music, and other media content all from the collections ofmedia assets represented in a media asset navigation interface. A usercan pivot on the navigation axes that represent the collections of mediaassets to discover media content that is related to the currentselection 204. For example, a user can search through a collection ofmovies by title 216, and then pivot on navigation axis 218 to search thesame movies by popularity. The example media asset navigation axes 200provide that a user can navigate from one media asset to a nextaccording to the ordered collections, and the order in which mediaassets are encountered or discovered depends on the current navigationpivot.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example 300 of a media asset navigation interface302 in various embodiments of media asset pivot navigation. Thenavigation interface 302 is a visual representation of the multi-axisrelational metadata and includes collections of media assets representedby visual elements 304. Although the visual elements 304 are shown inthe navigation interface with text identifiers, the text identifiers areonly included to signify the actual non-textual representations of thecollections of media assets. In practice, a visual element 304 of acollection of media assets can be included in a media asset navigationinterface as a video, picture-in-picture, image, photo, logo, or anyother non-textual representation of a collection. In this example, aphoto 306 represents a collection of digital photographs, an image 308of a music cover represents a collection of music files, an image 310 ofa movie poster represents a collection of recorded and/orvideo-on-demand movies, an image 312 of a video game cover represents acollection of video games, and a picture-in-picture 314 represents acollection of live television programs that are selectable for viewing.

The visual elements 304 each provide a coherent visual representation ofthe media assets in a collection on the media asset navigation interface302. A visual element 304 for a collection of media assets can beselected, or otherwise determined as the visual element that is mostlikely discernable by a user to represent the media assets. For example,a collection of media assets may all be live television, such asrepresented by the picture-in-picture 314. The visual elementcorresponds to the television program that is likely the most popularviewing choice. A visual element for a collection of media assets can bea video, an image, a logo, or any other non-textual representation ofthe media assets. The visual element for a collection of media assetscan correspond to one of the media assets in the collection, or can be acomposite image or other non-textual representation that corresponds tomore than one of the media assets.

A visual element can also be displayed to indicate what a user was lastwatching, viewing, or searching. For example, when the media assetnavigation application 140 at device 108 receives a navigation pivotinput, such as a user-initiated input to television client device 118with the remote control device, the media asset navigation application140 contextualizes the visual elements 304 to represent the collectionsof media assets based on previous user inputs to interact with one ormore of the media assets of a collection. In various examples, the image310 of the movie poster can be changed to a static image of a scene fromthe point in a movie where a viewer paused or stopped watching themovie. The photo 306 can represent the last collection of photos viewedby the user, may be displayed as the last photo selected for viewing, ormay be displayed as the next photo for viewing. Similarly, the image 308of the music cover can be displayed to represent the last music filethat a user selected for playback.

As described above, input devices that facilitate user-selectable inputsand selections to navigate the media asset navigation interface 302 caninclude a two-input controller, a two-dimensional or three-dimensionalcontroller, a pointing device, a touch controller, and/or a gesturalcontroller that can all be utilized for the various embodiments of mediaasset pivot navigation as described herein. For example, navigation canbe implemented with a simple controller that includes only a pivot inputbutton and one axis of continuous navigation, such as a knob controllerthat provides navigation right and left across the media assetnavigation interface.

With a three-dimensional controller, such as a game joystick, a user cansimultaneously navigate along multiple axes. For example, pushing up onthe joystick might move among genres from an origin (e.g., a selectedmedia asset), and moving right and left would navigate through genres.Adding a third dimension, such as pushing down on the game joystick caninitiate a navigation pivot among axes. Arbitrary pointing devices, suchas a mouse or a touch controller, can also be utilized for navigation ofthe media asset navigation interface to directly touch and select visualelements for depth-wise navigation into a collection of media assets. Agestural controller provides a user arbitrary position navigationcontrol within three dimensions. The position information can berelative, such as the position over a duration of time that isrepresented as a vector from a start position to an end position,without reference to an overall frame. A gestural controller thatimplements absolute position, such as the location of a gesture fromwithin a room, can also be utilized for navigation of the collections ofmedia assets displayed in a media asset navigation interface.

Example method 400 is described with reference to FIG. 4 in accordancewith one or more embodiments of media asset pivot navigation. Generally,any of the functions, methods, procedures, components, and modulesdescribed herein can be implemented using hardware, software, firmware,fixed logic circuitry, manual processing, or any combination thereof Asoftware implementation of a function, method, procedure, component, ormodule represents program code that performs specified tasks whenexecuted on a computing-based processor. The example methods may bedescribed in the general context of computer-executable instructions,which can include software, applications, routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, procedures, modules, functions, and thelike.

The methods may also be practiced in a distributed computing environmentwhere functions are performed by remote processing devices that arelinked through a communication network. In a distributed computingenvironment, computer-executable instructions may be located in bothlocal and remote computer storage media, including memory storagedevices. Further, the features described herein are platform-independentsuch that the techniques may be implemented on a variety of computingplatforms having a variety of processors.

FIG. 4 illustrates example method(s) 400 for media asset pivotnavigation. The order in which the method is described is not intendedto be construed as a limitation, and any number of the described methodblocks can be combined in any order to implement the method, or analternate method.

At block 402, collections of media assets are determined from relationalmetadata that corresponds to the media assets in a respectivecollection. For example, the media asset navigation application 140 atdevice 108 and/or the media asset navigation service 142 at contentdistributor 102 (FIG. 1) determines the collections of media assets 144based on the relational metadata 146 and/or any other relevant mediaasset associations. The media assets include live television programs,recorded videos, music files, photographs, and/or documents, andmultiple ones of the media assets can be associated with more than oneof the collections of media assets based on the relational metadata. Thecollections of media assets 144 include the global media assets 110maintained at the content distributor 102 and the local media assets 114maintained at the device 108, and the relational metadata 146corresponds to both the global media assets and the local media assets.

At block 404, each collection of media assets is represented as anavigation axis along which the media assets in a respective collectioncan be located. For example, the media asset navigation axes 200 (FIG.2) illustrates various collections of media assets that are eachrepresented as a navigation axis along which the media assets in arespective collection can be located by pivot navigation. A user cannavigate the relationships of the media assets in an abstractinformation space when searching for viewing choices, song selections,photo viewing, and the like.

At block 406, a media asset navigation interface is displayed from whichthe collections of media assets can be navigated to locate the mediaassets for selection. For example, the media asset navigationapplication 140 at device 108 initiates a display of the media assetnavigation interface 302 (FIG. 3) from which the collections of mediaassets can be navigated to locate the media assets for selection. Acollection of media assets are represented on the media asset navigationinterface 302 by a non-textual visual element that indicates arelationship of the media assets in the collection. The media assetnavigation interface 302 includes multiple collections of media assets,and the collections are each displayed for navigation along a respectivenavigation axis.

At block 408, a navigation input is received to pivot on a particularmedia asset that is included in at least two collections of mediaassets. For example, the media asset navigation application 140 atdevice 108 receives a navigation pivot input at a particular media asset210 to pivot between a navigation axis 208 and an alternate navigationaxis 214. The navigation input is received via any one of a two-inputcontroller, a gaming system controller, a pointing device, a touchcontroller, or a gestural controller.

At block 410, the media asset navigation interface is contextualized todisplay one or more visual elements that represent the collection ofmedia assets. For example, the media asset navigation application 140contextualizes the visual elements 304 when displayed on media assetnavigation interface 302 to represent the collections of media assetsbased on previous user inputs to interact with the media assets of thecollections. In various examples, the image 310 of the movie poster ischanged to a static image of a scene from the point in a movie where aviewer paused or stopped watching the movie. The photo 306 representsthe last collection of photos viewed by the user, is displayed as thelast photo selected for viewing, or is displayed as the next photo forviewing. Similarly, the image 308 of the music cover is displayed torepresent the last music that a user selected for playback.

At block 412, the navigation axis is pivoted to an alternate navigationaxis to initiate a display of an additional collection of media assetsthat are represented as the alternate navigation axis. For example, auser navigates from the current selection 204 (FIG. 2) to find movies(e.g., other media assets) in a collection of popular media assets 206along a navigation axis 208. The user may navigate the popular moviesand pivot on a media asset 210 that is also associated with a collectionof media assets 212 that include a particular actor, and that isrepresented by the navigation axis 214.

FIG. 5 illustrates various components of an example device 500 that canbe implemented as any type of client device and/or content distributoras described with reference to FIG. 1 to implement embodiments of mediaasset pivot navigation. In various embodiments, device 500 can beimplemented as any one or combination of a wired and/or wireless device,as any form of television client device (e.g., television set-top box,digital video recorder (DVR), etc.), consumer device, computer device,portable computer device, media device, communication device, videoprocessing and/or rendering device, appliance device, gaming device,electronic device, and/or as any other type of device. Device 500 mayalso be associated with a user (i.e., a person) and/or an entity thatoperates the device such that a device describes logical devices thatinclude users, software, firmware, and/or a combination of devices.

Device 500 includes communication devices 502 that enable wired and/orwireless communication of device data 504 (e.g., received data, datathat is being received, data scheduled for broadcast, data packets ofthe data, etc.). The device data 504 or other device content can includeconfiguration settings of the device, media content stored on thedevice, and/or information associated with a user of the device. Mediacontent stored on device 500 can include media assets and any type ofaudio, video, and/or image data. Device 500 includes one or more datainputs 506 via which any type of data, media content, and/or inputs canbe received, such as user-selectable inputs, music, television mediacontent, recorded video content, and any other type of audio, video,and/or image data received from a content or data source.

Device 500 also includes communication interfaces 508 that can beimplemented as any one or more of a serial and/or parallel interface, awireless interface, any type of network interface, a modem, and as anyother type of communication interface. The communication interfaces 508provide a connection and/or communication links between device 500 and acommunication network by which other electronic, computing, andcommunication devices communicate data with device 500.

Device 500 includes one or more processors 510 (e.g., any ofmicroprocessors, controllers, and the like) which process variouscomputer-executable instructions to control the operation of device 500and to implement embodiments of media asset pivot navigation.Alternatively or in addition, device 500 can be implemented with any oneor combination of hardware, firmware, or fixed logic circuitry that isimplemented in connection with processing and control circuits which aregenerally identified at 512. Although not shown, device 500 can includea system bus or data transfer system that couples the various componentswithin the device. A system bus can include any one or combination ofdifferent bus structures, such as a memory bus or memory controller, aperipheral bus, a universal serial bus, and/or a processor or local busthat utilizes any of a variety of bus architectures.

Device 500 also includes computer-readable media 514, such as one ormore memory components, examples of which include random access memory(RAM), non-volatile memory (e.g., any one or more of a read-only memory(ROM), flash memory, EPROM, EEPROM, etc.), and a disk storage device. Adisk storage device may be implemented as any type of magnetic oroptical storage device, such as a hard disk drive, a recordable and/orrewriteable compact disc (CD), any type of a digital versatile disc(DVD), and the like. Device 500 can also include a mass storage mediadevice 516.

Computer-readable media 514 provides data storage mechanisms to storethe device data 504, as well as various device applications 518 and anyother types of information and/or data related to operational aspects ofdevice 500. For example, an operating system 520 can be maintained as acomputer application with the computer-readable media 514 and executedon processors 510. The device applications 518 can include a devicemanager (e.g., a control application, software application, signalprocessing and control module, code that is native to a particulardevice, a hardware abstraction layer for a particular device, etc.). Thedevice applications 518 also include any system components or modules toimplement embodiments of media asset pivot navigation, such as a mediaasset navigation application 522 (e.g., when device 500 is implementedas a client device) and/or a media asset navigation service 524 (e.g.,when device 500 is implemented as a server device or contentdistributor). In this example, the device applications 518 are shown assoftware modules and/or computer applications. Alternatively or inaddition, the media asset navigation application 522 and the media assetnavigation service 524 can be implemented as hardware, software,firmware, or any combination thereof

Device 500 can also include an audio and/or video input-output system526 that provides audio data to an audio system 528 and/or providesvideo data to a display system 530. The audio system 528 and/or thedisplay system 530 can include any devices that process, display, and/orotherwise render audio, video, and image data. Video signals and audiosignals can be communicated from device 500 to an audio device and/or toa display device via an RF (radio frequency) link, S-video link,composite video link, component video link, DVI (digital videointerface), analog audio connection, or other similar communicationlink. In an embodiment, the audio system 528 and/or the display system530 are implemented as external components to device 500. Alternatively,the audio system 528 and/or the display system 530 are implemented asintegrated components of example device 500.

Although embodiments of media asset pivot navigation have been describedin language specific to features and/or methods, it is to be understoodthat the subject of the appended claims is not necessarily limited tothe specific features or methods described. Rather, the specificfeatures and methods are disclosed as example implementations of mediaasset pivot navigation.

1. A method comprising: determining collections of media assets, each ofthe collections corresponding to a navigation axis that is traversablein a user interface to locate media assets for selection; determiningvisual representations that each represent a collection of media assets,the visual representations displayable in the user interface; receivinga navigation input relative to a collection of media assets; andchanging a visual representation that represents the collection of mediaassets responsive to receiving the navigation input and based on userinteractions with the media assets in the collection of media assets. 2.A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual representations thatrepresent the collections of media assets are non-textual visualrepresentations that are most likely discernible to a user asrepresenting the collections of the media assets.
 3. A method as recitedin claim 1, wherein the visual representation that represents thecollection of media assets includes at least one of: a photo torepresent a collection of digital photographs; an image of a music coverto represent a collection of music files; an image of a movie poster torepresent a collection of movies; an image of a video game cover torepresent a collection of video games; and a picture-in-picture torepresent a collection of live television programs that are selectablefor viewing.
 4. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the visualrepresentation that represents the collection of media assets is a logo.5. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein the visual representationthat represents the collection of media assets corresponds to a mostpopular media asset within the collection of media assets.
 6. A methodas recited in claim 1, wherein the visual representation that representsthe collection of media assets is a composite non-textual representationthat corresponds to more than one of the media assets in the collectionof media assets.
 7. A method as recited in claim 1, wherein: the visualrepresentation is an image of a movie poster that corresponds to a moviein the collection of media assets; and changing the visualrepresentation includes changing the image of the movie poster to astatic image of a scene that is paused or stopped in the movie.
 8. Amethod as recited in claim 1, wherein: the visual representation is aphoto that represents a collection of digital photographs; and changingthe visual representation includes displaying a previous photo selectedfor viewing or a next photo for viewing.
 9. A method as recited in claim1, wherein: the visual representation is an image of a music cover thatrepresents a collection of music files; and changing the visualrepresentation includes displaying an different image associated with amusic track last selected for playback.
 10. One or morecomputer-readable storage media devices comprising instructions that areexecutable and, responsive to executing the instructions, a media assetnavigation system is implemented to: determine visual representationsthat each represent a collection of media assets and the visualrepresentations displayable in a media asset navigation interface, eachcollection of media assets represented as a navigation axis that istraversable in the media asset navigation interface to locate mediaassets for selection; receive a navigation input relative to acollection of media assets; and change a visual representation thatrepresents the collection of media assets responsive to the navigationinput and based on previous user interactions with the media assets inthe collection of media assets.
 11. One or more computer-readablestorage media devices as recited in claim 10, wherein the visualrepresentations that each represent a collection of media assets aredeterminable as non-textual visual representations that are most likelydiscernible to a user as representing the collections of the mediaassets.
 12. One or more computer-readable storage media devices asrecited in claim 10, wherein the visual representation that representsthe collection of media assets corresponds to a most popular media assetwithin the collection of media assets.
 13. One or more computer-readablestorage media devices as recited in claim 10, wherein the visualrepresentation that represents the collection of media assets is acomposite non-textual representation that corresponds to more than oneof the media assets in the collection of media assets.
 14. One or morecomputer-readable storage media devices as recited in claim 10, wherein:the visual representation is an image of a movie poster that correspondsto a movie in the collection of media assets; and the media assetnavigation system is implemented to change the image of a movie posterto a static image of a scene that is paused or stopped in the movie. 15.One or more computer-readable storage media devices as recited in claim10, wherein: the visual representation is a photo that represents acollection of digital photographs; and the media asset navigation systemis implemented to change the photo to a previous photo selected forviewing or a next photo for viewing.
 16. One or more computer-readablestorage media devices as recited in claim 10, wherein: the visualrepresentation is an image of a music cover that represents a collectionof music files; and the media asset navigation system is implemented tochange the image of the music cover to a different image associated witha music track last selected for playback.
 17. A media asset navigationsystem, comprising: a memory and processor system to implement a mediaasset navigation application that is configured to: determinecollections of media assets, each of the collections corresponding to anavigation axis that is traversable in a media asset navigation userinterface to locate media assets for selection; determine visualrepresentations that each represent a collection of media assets, thevisual representations displayable in the media asset navigation userinterface; and change a visual representation that represents thecollection of media assets based on user interactions with the mediaassets in the collection of media assets.
 18. A media asset navigationsystem as recited in claim 17, wherein the visual representations thatrepresent the collections of media assets are non-textual visualrepresentations that are most likely discernible to a user asrepresenting the collections of the media assets.
 19. A media assetnavigation system as recited in claim 17, wherein the visualrepresentation that represents the collection of media assets is acomposite non-textual representation that corresponds to more than oneof the media assets in the collection of media assets.
 20. A media assetnavigation system as recited in claim 17, wherein: the media assets inthe collection of the media assets are navigable along a firstnavigation axis; additional media assets in another collection of mediaassets are navigable along a second navigation axis; and the media assetnavigation application is configured to pivot from the first navigationaxis to the second navigation axis responsive to a navigation pivotinput.